


A Matter of Circumstance

by adams_in_the_pineapple_pit



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Backstory, Why she's such a bitch, tragic backstory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-10-31 08:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17846099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adams_in_the_pineapple_pit/pseuds/adams_in_the_pineapple_pit
Summary: Born to a muggle-born witch and pure-blood father, Dolores Umbridge and her twin sister and squib Amy experience life and the prejudices of the wizarding world. Or in other words, how Dolores Umbridge became the woman we all hate today. (but with a sob backstory)Prob sketchy updates and smaller chapters, but we'll see how this goes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.k. Rowling. I (obviously) own nothing and expect nothing.

Dolores Umbridge sat down her cup of tea and tried to ignore the rising calamity coming from the living area of their home. 

“It’s from your side of the family!”

“Oh, you know very well that your family has always been weak. You barely passed your O.W.L’s even with my help!”

“Because I was distracted by you!”

“And of course it had nothing to do with your muggle parents!”

She took another shaky sip, letting it settle her enough to finally rise from the worn leather armchair that had become her safe-haven these past few weeks.   
On silent feet, she padded across the linoleum-covered floor, not daring to breathe until she was up the stairs and away from the near-screaming of her parents. Dolores ran a hand along the shipped wooden banister, following its path until she reached a cream-covered door. 

“Dolly?”

Dolores felt her lips pull upward into what felt like her first smile in years. “Ames.”

“Are they still yelling? I think they put a silencing charm on the door.”

“Yeah, Amy, they are.” She sighed, allowing her shoulders to slouch and her face to soften, “I don’t think they’ll stop anytime soon either.”

Though technically they had been born the same day, Dolores knew that her sister acted much younger. She also knew that, while Amy was gorgeous; all flawless skin and smooth waves of chestnut hair, Dolores herself was by no means attractive. Certainly many a’ childhood bully had brought it upon themselves to remind her of that fact.  
She couldn’t blame her parents for their blatant favoritism any more than she could fault her sister for being beautiful; it was simply a matter of nature or of fate. It was unavoidable. This had all changed however, the routine unbalanced when Dolores’ Hogwarts letter arrived. Alone.

Dolores remembered the shock; remembered the denial on her mother’s face before it was quickly replaced by denial and later, outrage. She remembered the calmness of her father’s voice, it’s levity belying the hard anger flashing in his eyes. The disbelief. For the absence of a letter could only mean one thing: Amy, her beautiful, talented sister, was a squib. 

Looking into her sister’s face now, she could see none of the earlier disappointment. Amy, for all her outer beauty, remained just as beautiful and kind on the inside. This fact alone, she knew, separated her from Dolores. For this reason, an ugly, hateful thing reared its head at finally besting her sister. Ashamed at herself, Dolores forced her mutinous thoughts down, down; so far deep that she could feel nothing except for her own sorrow at her sister’s loss, at her inevitable cut-off from a society that shunned the birth of magic-less wizards. 

“You’ll be alright, Ames. I’m sure of it.”

Amy nodded, purposely ignoring the shaking in her sister’s hands as she wrapped them around her, and the quavering in her voice that she knew Dolores had been fighting since the news had arrived. Wrapped in each other’s embrace and Silencio-protected from the horrors of reality, Dolores and Amy Umbridge attempted to sleep and to block out the pending catastrophe that was sure to arrive with the coming of fall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feuding with family, havin' lots of fun.

Rubbing at the sleep crusted onto her eyes, Dolores realized distantly that she had been crying.

Of course in my sleep is when I finally let myself cry, she harrumphed into the empty room, only noticing then that her sister was gone. 

“Ames?” She questioned sleepily, and then more frantically panic replaced exhaustion. “Amy?!” 

‘Where could she be?’ With her newfound-weakness, Amy would be surely be more susceptible to magic and its residue, not to mention any bigoted wizards determined to rid the magic realm of its anomalies. 

By now, Dolores’ worry had reached its peak, and a rare bit of uncontained magic blasted the door to their bedroom open in tie for her to storm out of it and down to the kitchen. Blinded with worry, Dolores failed to recognize her families stilted expressions until her harried, “Amy’s gone. Amy’s go–” was cut of by a small, “Ahem-hem.” 

The owner of such a sound –strict, no-nonsense Orford Umbridge– turned his head to glare at his distraught daughter. “Calm yourself, Dolores,” the disapproval coloring his voice reminding Dolores just which of his children he favored, and which he did not. 

Avoiding his eyes, Dolores instead stared apologetically to where her sister sat, looking perplexed and slightly indignant at Dolores’ panic. Their mother hovered near Amy, looking as twitchy and helpless as ever, a condition that lessened only when overshadowed by her more aggressive need for constant order within her household. 

Gritting her teeth against any snark that may have come out in its place, Dolores said, “I’m sorry, sir. I was simply concerned for the wellbeing of my sister.” Her father snorted, but accepted the well-rehearsed response with a flick of his wrist.

Ever the pacifier, Amy said softly, but not weakly, “Well I for one have experienced enough excitement for one morning. Tea, anyone?”

As if shaking off a trance, her mother stood abruptly and hurried to the kettle, evidently deciding that yes, they very much did need tea. The action further distilled any lingering tension and the room seemed to let out a collective breath of relief. After all, that wasn’t the first time Dolores and her father had butted heads, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Their similarities damned them; their differences ensured the ruination. 

“So,” Orford said, all earlier traces of aggression gone, “Have you looked over your list of requirements, Dolores? Your mother and I decided that today would be a good enough one for school-shopping.” 

Before Dolores could respond, Amy whipped her head up from where it was previously resting on the white-tiled counter. “May I come?” She fixed the biggest, least subtle puppy eyes imaginable on her father, “Oh, please Papa! I’ve been cooped up for ages.” 

Orford shook his head, albeit reluctantly. “You know very well the uproar it would cause, Amy. We just can’t have you out there after everyone’s discovered the truth.”

‘Discovered the truth’. Dolores clamped her jaw down against the words that were sure to escape and restore the tension in the atmosphere. ‘Discovered the truth’. They all knew very well who’d leaked the test files, a person whom had hated the Umbridge family for as long as Dolores could remember. The Malfoys. She could picture the smirk their son wore when he’d learned the truth about Amy; a glaring manifest of superiority. 

“A squib, hmm?” Abraxos Malfoy had leered over her sister, making her already-slight figure seem even smaller, “How….unfortunate.”

Dolores still seethed with the unfairness of it all. How could this have happened to Amy? With her… condition, Amy would never truly be accepted into the wizarding world. What if–

Dolores was shaken from her thoughts by a loud “THUMP”, as her mother set down the finally steaming kettle with more force than was necessary. She eyed Dolores in warning, undeceived by her daughter’s calm facade. Though she resented the Malfoys for their unwavering biases as much as her daughter, she knew bringing up the incident would only incite further discourse between the bull-headed family members. 

“Dolores,” she waited until she had her daughter’s full attention before sliding her a steaming cup, “Will you be ready in and hour? And no, Amy, you may not come with. That is final.”

Amy huffed and slid out of her seat leaving her own cup untouched where it sat on a smudged coaster beside her. Without taking her eyes off of the direction Amy stormed to, Dolores moved to stand herself, “Yes, Ma. I’ll be ready within the hour.” At her mother’s nod of approval, she made her way to the rickety staircase that led to her and Amy’s room. 

She made sure to take her tea with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this may or may not be late but since this is only the second chapter we can write it off as an isolated incident, yeah?


End file.
